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The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb Mac mini" threads, merged

I picked up a Mac Mini 2.3 i7 on Sunday. Waiting for 16GB of RAM to arrive from B&H.

This is my first Mac ever after 17 years on the Linux desktop. To say I am impressed would be an understatement. Some things, particularly keyboard commands, are different but so many things work so well it's worth some relearning. Nearly all my bash scripts work without modification. It is a great desktop with the UNIX power I have grown to love/"need" under the covers. What a great combo.

Even without the additional memory, I have installed Libreoffice, Gimp, and Darktable which all run really fast. Next up is Ultra Fractal which was one of the things that pushed me over the edge to get a Mac.
 
I currently have a Hackintosh, but wanted something a bit more stable, and easier to upgrade the OS. So I pulled the trigger on a new base mini i7 at Adorama, for $739 shipped. I have already bought the 16 gig ram upgrade...next will be an SSD...After that - (someday) - a new hi quality display, a Dell Ultra. Looking forward to my 1st Mini....I've been reading tons of info on this forum for about 6 months,...thanks for all the good info.
 
Updated Workspace

I just recently finished putting my recent purchases together. During Cyber Monday 2013, I bought a Mac Mini 2.3 Ghz i7 with stock configuration to go along with my Dell U2212hm 21.5'' monitor that I purchased at the beginning of November 2013. I waited until my 30 day policy was up to return it just in case Apple unveiled a new Mac Mini, and the current Mac Mini would drop in price to get a better deal before opening it. Still $739 was a steal with no tax and free shipping. Finally the wait is over! Here's a photo of my new set up. Im really happy with it and it is many steps up from my Mid-2009 13'' MBP. I installed a Samsung 840 PRO 256gb as a boot drive using the OWC Data Doubler kit and the last thing I need to update is memory to 16gb (waiting for a better deal from Crucial) and my set up will be complete to load up and run FCPX for vlog editing. The wait is almost done finally and definitely worth it. My peripherals in case anyone is interested consists of logitech's M705 mouse, K760 solar powered keyboard, z313 multimedia speakers, and c903e business webcam. I will purchase a logitech trackpad somewhere down the road if they release a solar powered version.
 

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helloshirosan said:
I just recently finished putting my recent purchases together. During Cyber Monday 2013, I bought a Mac Mini 2.3 Ghz i7 with stock configuration to go along with my Dell U2212hm 21.5'' monitor that I purchased at the beginning of November 2013. I waited until my 30 day policy was up to return it just in case Apple unveiled a new Mac Mini, and the current Mac Mini would drop in price to get a better deal before opening it. Still $739 was a steal with no tax and free shipping. Finally the wait is over! Here's a photo of my new set up. Im really happy with it and it is many steps up from my Mid-2009 13'' MBP. I installed a Samsung 840 PRO 256gb as a boot drive using the OWC Data Doubler kit and the last thing I need to update is memory to 16gb (waiting for a better deal from Crucial) and my set up will be complete to load up and run FCPX for vlog editing. The wait is almost done finally and definitely worth it. My peripherals in case anyone is interested consists of logitech's M705 mouse, K760 solar powered keyboard, z313 multimedia speakers, and c903e business webcam. I will purchase a logitech trackpad somewhere down the road if they release a solar powered version.
Click to expand...

Yeah... and the new mini is on the horizon
I too bought the i7 2.3G in the beginning of this year (tired of waiting for the update)
Along with K760 and the T651..
Now I should stop visiting here as the "new mini" seems to be arriving.. :(
 
Don't sweat it. I visit the forum when I have a technical problem.

rndman said:
Yeah... and the new mini is on the horizon
I too bought the i7 2.3G in the beginning of this year (tired of waiting for the update)
Along with K760 and the T651..
Now I should stop visiting here as the "new mini" seems to be arriving.. :(
Click to expand...

I'm not even worried about the new mac mini arriving. You should never be worried about having the latest and greatest and just be thankful for what you do have in the current moment. There are a lot of people in the world who can't even afford a computer. This computer will last me another 5-7 years, by then there will be even better ones to upgrade to. Anything more than what I'm currently using is honestly overkill. How's the T-651 trackpad? I've read that it doesn't track as well as it lags when you move the cursor. How's the battery life on one full charge of use? If you haven't already throw in a Samsung 840 PRO 256 SSD as a boot drive and 16gb of ram and your machine will be flying!
 
I just received my new Mac mini yesterday, as well as a new Apple TV. I got the 2.3GHz quad i7, 4gb RAM, 1TB HDD, with AppleCare. I decided in the end it wasn't worth waiting for a hopeful 2014 refresh of the mini when the current model will already do everything I want it to just fine. Although, it might sting just a little if the rumors are true and a new model is out before the end of Feb. Oh well, the mini I got is probably overkill for what I'm going to use it for as it is!
It's mostly going to be used as an "iTunes server" for watching movies/tv shows through my new Apple TV on the TV in the living room. I'm still working on that project - storing my iTunes library on a 4TB USB3 HDD I bought a few days ago as well. I wanted the quad i7 so Handbrake encodes would go a little faster. I'll also use the mini for music. I finally got all my CD's digitized and copied into iTunes. Other than that probably just some light web browsing and light gaming. The HD4000 iGPU should be more than enough for the few (old) games I would ever play on it: Half Life/Half Life 2, Doom 3, Day of Defeat: Source, etc. I have plenty of consoles for the rest of my gaming needs.

I still have a few things left on my shopping list.. I'd like to get a decent battery backup for the mini, upgrade the RAM to 16GB in a few months, maybe get a magic trackpad. Maybe in a few years upgrade the internal drive to a 500GB or 1TB SSD, if/when prices come down.
 
helloshirosan said:
I'm not even worried about the new mac mini arriving. You should never be worried about having the latest and greatest and just be thankful for what you do have in the current moment. There are a lot of people in the world who can't even afford a computer. This computer will last me another 5-7 years, by then there will be even better ones to upgrade to. Anything more than what I'm currently using is honestly overkill. How's the T-651 trackpad? I've read that it doesn't track as well as it lags when you move the cursor. How's the battery life on one full charge of use? If you haven't already throw in a Samsung 840 PRO 256 SSD as a boot drive and 16gb of ram and your machine will be flying!
Click to expand...

I hear ya. (and agree...)
The trackpad is just fantastic. (I have no past experience with any other)
I really love it.
Yeah and the SSD and RAM is in the shopping list... No rush though.
 
Sounds good!

I have an xbox day one edition for all my gaming needs so that's covered. It shouldn't sting when they recent an updated version. Be happy with what you have and can afford. There will always be newer and better things that come along. I'm still waiting for the 16gb ram memory from crucial to drop a little. Currently $139 or if I find a better deal somewhere, but at this point it's not a pressing matter that I need to upgrade right away. FCPX is running a lot better than it was on my 2009 MBP

rndman said:
I hear ya. (and agree...)
The trackpad is just fantastic. (I have no past experience with any other)
I really love it.
Yeah and the SSD and RAM is in the shopping list... No rush though.
Click to expand...
 
Apple just posted a bunch of refurb mini's of their site, they even have 2 with the SSD drives.
 
Decided not to wait any longer, just pulled the trigger on the i7 mini, delivery due tomorrow, amazon prime
 
hmm

Jona330 said:
Decided not to wait any longer, just pulled the trigger on the i7 mini, delivery due tomorrow, amazon prime
Click to expand...
not smart
all stores worldwide are running out of mini's...
and computerstore.be said to me end February at latest
wouldn't open the box if I were you...
 
Jona330 said:
Current mini will do everything I need and gets me into the world of mac!
Click to expand...
And at least it is upgradeable; who knows about the new version? I would not doubt if the new mini goes the same way as laptops with soldered memory. I just bot this same config and replaced the internal hdd with a 256GB Samsung EVO, and am getting a fast external raid0 array for online storage. It is quite a beat!
 
uhu

danny_w said:
And at least it is upgradeable; who knows about the new version? I would not doubt if the new mini goes the same way as laptops with soldered memory. I just bot this same config and replaced the internal hdd with a 256GB Samsung EVO, and am getting a fast external raid0 array for online storage. It is quite a beat!
Click to expand...
that's the gamble indeed...
 
First post here :) Just got ( 2 weeks ago) a brand new i5 mac mini (2012) on ebay for $400. Good deal I think. Don't need the i7 for now. If I do later on I just sell this one and get the latest mini.
 
Just bought a refurb Mac Mini from the Apple website - base model late 2012.

Saw it over a week ago and kicked myself for not getting it, because it disappeared the day after. Been refreshing the refurb page many times a day since then and all of a sudden, a ton of Mac Mini refurbs appeared!

I'm in Canada so I'm not sure if the same machines show up on different country websites...

I'm supposed to get it mid February, and I have 14 days to decide if I want it. I'll wait till the very last day and see if a refresh comes out, and it does, I'll return and buy a brand new one :D
 
I'm curious....why would there be refurbished Mac Mini's in the apple store....do people order them and just return them because they don't like them? Mostly I see ones with min specs usually 4GB ram and almost always with harddrive, hardly ever see one with fusion HD or SSD. Could these be mini's returned to Amazon who returns it to Apple or are these customer returns purchased from Apple stores or online Apple store? I ask because I really have no idea. If the new Mini doesn't come out by end of this month I am strongly considering a refurb.
 
MrGuder said:
I'm curious....why would there be refurbished Mac Mini's in the apple store....do people order them and just return them because they don't like them? Mostly I see ones with min specs usually 4GB ram and almost always with harddrive, hardly ever see one with fusion HD or SSD. Could these be mini's returned to Amazon who returns it to Apple or are these customer returns purchased from Apple stores or online Apple store? I ask because I really have no idea. If the new Mini doesn't come out by end of this month I am strongly considering a refurb.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if apple sells returned computers as new or refurb. They can also be computers that had defects/failures and apple then fixed them and resells them.
 
Does anyone else think it's odd that there has been no refurb mini's for the past several weeks or more. I check nearly everyday and usually there has been some but not lately. What does this mean?
 
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